


Your Secret Is Safe, I Won't Say A Word

by mikaylalwrites



Category: Sweeney Todd (2007)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon Era, Canon-Typical Violence, Closeted Character, Coming Out, Headcanon, Lovers to Friends, One Shot, Other, Past Character Death, Past Child Abuse, Period Typical Attitudes, Period-Typical Homophobia, Post-Canon, Queer Themes, Short One Shot, Trauma, giving anthony a backstory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 05:21:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29130204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mikaylalwrites/pseuds/mikaylalwrites
Summary: ❝We should slow down, I was moving too quickYou don't say you love me, you just bite your lip❞Johanna and Anthony leave London together but things don't go quite as Anthony planned.
Relationships: Johanna Barker & Anthony Hope, Johanna Barker/Anthony Hope
Kudos: 4





	Your Secret Is Safe, I Won't Say A Word

**Author's Note:**

> i'm queer so here this is. also i love movie anthony sm so this is very anthony-centric.

Anthony returned to Sweeney’s Barber shop on Fleet Street to find Johanna, who he’d left there while trying to find them transportation out of the city. Normally, he was undeterred by anything that would frighten most other men but there was something amiss with the quietness that blanketed the air as he walked up the steps to the upstairs barber shop. He entered, expecting to find Todd and Johanna. Instead, he found blood on the floor and an opened, and empty, trunk. 

He walked back down to the shop where Mrs. Lovett sold her meat pies, hoping to find any of them there. Nothing moved or made a sound. Anthony’s heart began to pound as he worried for his lover. He explored the kitchen and the space where Mrs. Lovett had lived and found nothing. Soon, he found himself in the basement, where the furnace and meat grinder were kept. Here, he found a horrified Johanna taking in the sight of Sweeney Todd, who had only recently stopped gushing blood, and the beggar woman in his arms. Anthony wasn’t the smartest man alive but it wasn’t hard to make the connection then. Todd was the barber he’d told Anthony about and she, laying dead in his arms, was his wife. Anthony wondered where Mrs. Lovett had gone. He hoped far away from here. 

“He killed her,” Johanna said. “And he tried to kill me.” 

Anthony took a step closer to her. “I thought you’d be safe here. Mr. Todd said…I told him I was bringing you.” 

Johanna didn’t acknowledge him. “He killed Judge Turpin. I never loved him. Yet, I feel something like grief. He was the closest person to a father I ever had.” 

Turpin was the judge, Anthony now realized, in Todd’s story. 

Who was Johanna really? 

“I don’t remember anything about my father,” Johanna said. “Or my mother. All I knew was him.” 

“Our coach is arranged,” Anthony said. “We can leave. Get away from this place.” 

Johanna turned to him. “I suppose there is nothing left to do.” 

She took his hand. 

The pair walked up the stairs to the home of Mrs. Lovett then out through the storefront. The coach was a few feet away. Anthony led Johanna toward it, opened the door, and helped her in. 

“Where do you suppose we should get married?” he asked her. “We could go to my birthplace, Plymouth, and be happy there. Or, if it’s too far, we could go to Reading. Or we could take a day trip to Brighton by train. This is all so exciting.” 

He smiled at his lover and noticed she was not as enthused as he was. He supposed it was the scene that had witnessed. 

“I’m sorry for my haste, it’s been a trying day for you.” 

Johanna sighed. “It’s been a trying life.” 

There was a pause. She placed a hand on his coat and let it fall so she could take his hand. 

“There is something I must tell you, Anthony.” 

“Anything.” 

“We shouldn’t be married.” 

Anthony’s face fell for a moment but not for long. “If it’s too soon we can wait. As long as you want.” 

“No, it’s not that.” 

“Then what?” 

“I haven’t told anyone this before,” she said carefully. “Only Judge Turpin knew but he thought he could cure it. It never worked. Locking me away, hitting me, none of it.”  
She paused and took a deep breath. “Anthony, I love women and only women.” 

He frowned and tried not to cry. “I thought, I thought we were…” 

“I know, and I’m sorry. Please try to understand. I was trapped in that house, a prisoner in my own home. I need to escape and then you came, and would do anything for me. I can’t ever repay what you’ve done for me. But I don’t love you in the way any other woman could, I can’t.” 

Anthony considered this for a moment, then asked, “When did you know you were, um, interested in women?” 

“I spent much of my life observing everyone else,” Johanna said. “I hardly ever interacted with anyone of either sex. It was around the time Judge Turpin started acting strangely towards me. I was always made uncomfortable by his actions because he was older and I often detested him. Then I started to notice beautiful wives of the men he liked to host. The elegance of their walk, and the plumpness of their lips. I never told anyone but I think the Judge noticed. He became harsher than ever before.” 

“I’m sorry to hear that,” said Anthony, squeezing her hand. “I think I can understand. I’m unlike the men I know.” 

“How so?” 

“When I was a boy, I wanted to see the world. My parents hoped I would be a success in the banks of London. I never liked being stuck in one place. Then, when I was fourteen, I joined the crew of the ship _Bountiful_ and went far away from everything I knew. It was everything I had wanted. There was a boy around my age with the most beautiful brown eyes. We became as close as brothers. I remember he liked to play with my hair. He said it felt nice.” 

“It is very lovely hair,” Johanna agreed. “Somewhere between flaxen and tawny.” 

Anthony blushed. “Thank you. One night, when the rest of the crew was asleep or busy, he kissed me and I liked it.” 

“Boys aren’t supposed to like other boys,” Johanna said. 

“Girls aren’t supposed to like other girls,” Anthony replied. 

“Do you still want to run away with me?” Johanna asked. “Now that you know?” 

“I can see the world with a friend,” Anthony said with a smile. 

“As can I.” 

“How’s Plymouth this time of year?” Johanna asked. “I want to go as far as possible.” 

“Cold,” Anthony said. “Like all of England. But beautiful too.” 

“Where isn’t it cold?” 

“All sorts of places. Peru, Spain, The Dardanelles. We will see all of them together one day.” 

“You sound so sure.”

“What could stop us?” 

“Weather, finances, our deaths, the end of the world.” 

Anthony shook his head. “We’ll go. Even if the world ends.” 

Anthony thought he’d found a wife through the calamitous events in London but he was content to have found a friend.

**Author's Note:**

> johanna says lesbian rights and anthony says bi rights. idc, idc. 
> 
> i kind of always felt that johanna was using anthony to escape judge turpin and didn't really love him (not that i blame her at all, they'd just met). also anthony, and his actor tbh, have always given me prime bisexual vibes (not that i'm assuming anything about jamie. it's just a feeling. i could be very wrong. just wanted to make that clear.) 
> 
> if you enjoyed this, leave kudos / a comment <3


End file.
